


Nightingale

by FailureArtist



Series: Hot Mess [5]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Dubious Consent, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Non-Sgrub AU, Resolved Sexual Tension, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-12
Updated: 2011-09-12
Packaged: 2017-10-23 16:40:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/252511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FailureArtist/pseuds/FailureArtist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Equius and Aradia got together in the non-Sgrub AU "My Motherfucking Best Friend". Their relationship wasn't as calm as it appears in that fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nightingale

                _Equius gazed at Aradia. She had such an ethereal beauty he couldn’t believe it sometimes. And yet she didn’t simply have looks – she was also intelligent and graceful. She had everything except for highblood, but Equius felt like it didn’t matter now. She had the heart of a highblood – literally.  Her lowblood heart had given out on the horrible night when her moirail attacked her, but now she would never have to worry about her health again. She had a metal heart. She could cross the line._

_Now was the time to make his move. He had been unsure of his feelings before, but now he knew he was 100% flushed for her. She certainly felt the same way after all the effort he had gone through. It had taken his fortune, several paintings, a loan from Vriska, a deal with an adult troll, a remote-directed medical drone, and lots of metal to save her life. In return she had consented to a date with him._

_“Aradia?” he asked._

_She stirred in her medicoon._

_He said, “I must confess…I am flushed crimson for you. Will you do me the honor of letting me…court you?”_

_Aradia tilted her head as she looked at him._

_She answered, “Eeyup.” Then she lolled her head to the side and asked, “What direction do socks go in?”_

* * *

 

                Aradia stared at Equius. He looked terrible. His body was just lying out here in the field. He was bruised and bleeding all over. He had even less teeth now. His few remaining clothes hung in tatters around him. He was naked and exposed in every way. His attacker had vanished, probably not out of fear but simply because he was done with his victim. She was unsure if the attacker was troll or beast.

                She ran back to her hive and got a litter to put him in. It was the same litter she had used to transport Tavros, she thought bitterly. With her lusus’ help she brought the body back to her hive. She dragged the body into ablution trap, ignoring the blue trail it left. She took out a medical kit and examined the body. With her powers she already knew he wasn’t dead, but now she assessed the damage. When she was through with that, she took a pair of scissors and cut off his clothes. She needed to wash him. She pumped water onto a washcloth and started scrubbing him. Equius stirred. He looked at his caretaker with bloodshot eyes.

                                “Miss…” he murmured.

                                “It’s Aradia.”

                He smiled big.

                                “I’m in love. Love with you. Will you committing, be my matesprite?”

                                She answered, “Eeyup.”

                He passed out. Aradia paused and thought about her answer. She wasn’t sure why she said that. She wasn’t sure why he asked. She continued cleaning him and bandaging him.

 

 

                Equius woke up to see Aradia sitting leaned against the hygieneblock wall. She looked almost as tired as him. She looked at him in that cold manner he had become accustomed to.

                                “You are finally awake now,” she said flatly, “I found you on the moors near my hive. You were injured. I brought you back here and patched you up.”

                                “I know what happened,” he said.

                Her eyes went a little wide.

                                “You do?” she said.

                He paused to think about this.

                                He asked, “Did I say something before I passed out?”

                Her eyes shifted, as if she was unsure whether she should tell the truth or not. Finally, she said:

                                “You asked me to commit to you as a matespirit.”

                He snorted.

                                “Of horse you do know I was delirious at the time, so my offer does not stand.”

                                Cold as death, she replied, “I wasn’t about to take you up on it.”

                                “Good. I would hate it if I was forced to spend my life with you based on some misspoken words.”

                                “It’d be absurd to hold someone on a promise made in such a _weak_ state. I have my _honor_.”

                                “I shall find some way of paying you for your care.”

                                “You don’t have to. This is no-strings-attached.”

                She crossed her arms and started pouting. Awkward silence fell between them. Equius looked down and felt more awkward.

                                “You stripped me!” he cried.

                                “There wasn’t much to strip,” she replied.

                                “You could have put some clothes on me afterwards!”

                                “I didn’t think you would want to wear a lowblood’s shirt.”

                                “You could have covered me with a towel!”

                She picked up a towel and threw it at him.

                                “There! You love towels, don’t you?”

                He just grunted as he placed the towel over his genitals.

                                “Now give me back my glasses. I’m getting a headache without them,” he barked.

                                She sighed. “I don’t have any to give you. Don’t you have a second pair in your sylladex?”

                                “I dropped them while I was in the woods.”

                                “What were you doing in the woods? Come to think of it, what were you doing out here?”

                                “That is none of your concern.”

                                “It is when you get yourself attacked right on my doorstep.”

                Equius looked sheepish. Aradia started looking sheepish in return.

                                She said, “I’ll get you some non-aspirin painkiller and a glass of drinking water.”

 

 

                Aradia did so. She also feed him some porridge and then rubbed some sopor slime on him to help him go to sleep and to stop the pain. She took care of him. For the next couple nights Equius recovered and Aradia stayed by his side. Things were not warm between them. Other than a few words, they were silent with each other.

                One day Equius woke up to hear some strange sounds from Aradia. She was mewling as she rocked back and forth. Her eyes were closed and her cheeks were red. Equius grunted as he pulled himself up to see what she was doing. Aradia’s eyes shot open. He saw that her skirt was hiked up and he finally put two and two together. He had thought it impossible but here she was masturbating!

                                “How disgusting!” he cried, “Doing such a thing, and in front of a highblüd!”

                                “I wasn’t…I was but there’s nothing wrong with it!” she cried back, “I wasn’t going to pail, either, so it’s perfectly clean. And you probably do it too!”

                                “I never…”

                                “You’ve probably done it while trolling me!”

                Equius snorted a denial.

                                He then said, “I didn’t know I excited such…feelings…in you.”

                                “It wasn’t about you. I was just trying to keep myself awake. You do know that I haven’t been able to use my recupercoon for days!”

                                “That is no reason to do such a thing. Admit to me, you were aroused by seeing my perfect naked form. Admit it!”

                Aradia flattened down her skirt.

                                “I won’t,” she said primly.

                                “It does not matter, I know the truth. If you planned to seduce me with that lüd display, you have failed completely.”

                                “I told you, I wasn’t doing it for you.”

                                “This highblüd shall not deign to enter a concupiscent relationship with a lowblüd.”

                                “You didn’t feel that way before.”

                                “Things have…changed. I have filled another quadrant. You will have to find someone else to hate.”

                                “When did this happen, my anti-social bigot?”

                                Equius looked down. “The night you found me.”

                Aradia blanched.

                                “I thought…” she stuttered, “I knew you were raped but you were…”

                Equius smiled and looked at the ceiling.

                                “I was ravished,” he moaned, “Most eX-quisitely ravished. His name is Lupine Durand, he’s a blueblüd, and he’s very STRONG.”

                Aradia held her hand to her mouth. She felt that she should feel black jealousy. That she should be angry that someone else could hurt Equius more than she ever could. But she didn’t feel that way. She felt a strong pity that threatened to rip her metal heart. She felt sorry that not only was he hurt so badly, he was psychologically messed up enough to love sex that was destructive even by troll standards.  She stood up.

                                “Black sex isn’t supposed to kill you!” she yelled.

                                “I can handle it.”

                                “You would have burnt up in the sun if you hadn’t fucked this guy right outside my window!”

                                “Language!”

                                “I don’t care!”

                                “Yes, you don’t care! You’re only doing this so you can eX-tract some sort of reward out of me.”

                                “Not everyone thinks like you do. I can help someone out without making someone sign a contract.”

                                “I did not force you to sign anything. You agreed to a date of your own free will.”

                                “I was on my death cocoon!”

                                “You could have just died if you found my proposal so dishonorable.”

                                “If you really loved me you would have done it for free.”

                                “Megido,” Equius said in a patronizing tone, “As a guileless lowblüd you might not have realized this, but everything has a price. I had to make a deal myself with an adult troll in order to get the surgery.”

                                “Yes, I know,” said Aradia as she flew up her hands,  “you had to apprentice yourself to a filthy tealblood and now you’ll have to build medical drones instead of breaking bows. You’re going to be more happy and successful doing that than you would have been in the force!”

                                “I have spent  millions of credit on you…”

                                “I know you’ve tried to buy my love! That’s all you’ve done! First you sent me little “secret” presents, then you literally brought me a new heart, then you gave Tavros robotic braces only to pull up another price tag, and now you think I’m trying to buy you! Do you think everything can be brought?”

                                Aradia started crying. “And the worse thing, the worse thing is, you never needed to buy me. I was yours before you even spent one credit.”

                                Equius stared at her. “Aradia…do you mean it?”

                                She laughed bitterly. “Do I look delirious to you? Yes, I love you.”

                                “Is it red or black?”

                                “Red. I’m tired of being black.”

                She fell down on her knees by Equius’ side and hugged him.

                                She cried, “You fool! You masochistic fool! I pity you.”

                Equius slowly put his hand on Aradia’s back.

                                “I…pity you too,” he said.

                                She whispered in his ear, “Does your offer still stand?”

                                “Yes, it does.”

                                “Then my answer is…eeyup.”

                They pulled back and looked into each other’s eyes. The new couple then slowly moved together for a kiss. It wasn’t their first kiss – there had been a few during their mobius reacharound phase – but in a way it was their first true kiss.  At first the kiss was gentle, until Aradia started pulling him in. She was rougher than he was. After five minutes and a sweat-soaked blouse, she whispered in his ear,

                                “I have an offer of my own.”

                She stood up and pulled off her blouse. Equius covered his eyes.

                                “Aradia, what do you think you’re doing?” he asked.

                                “What do _you_ think I’m doing?” she said sweetly.

  

  1. He cried, “We cannot consummate our love now! It’s too soon!”
  



                                She replied, “How long have we known each other? Two and a half solar sweeps? And how long have we gone through this silly back and forth nonsense?”

                                “This isn’t right, we’re only si-X sweeps!”

                                “Six and a half sweeps.”

                                “We should wait till we’re mature!”

                                “You didn’t wait until you were mature.”

                                “I had no choice in the matter! It was forced on me! Oh so STRONGLY forced on me.”

                Aradia put her hands on her hips, making her breast jiggle a little.

                                “See?” she said, “If HE could get you on your first date, I should be able to. I’m not going to let some blueblood scum beat me.”

                Her skirt hit the floor. Equius finally gave up and looked at her. She had taken off her underwear beforehand, and for the rest of their relationship he would believe she never wore any.

                                Equius swore, “Oh my God..gosh. Oh my gosh.”

                                “You aren’t so bad yourself.”

                Aradia went over and lifted the sweat-soaked towel off of Equius. His bone bulge lifted.

                                He groaned, “I’m too STRONG for you.”

                She rubbed his bandaged shoulder.

                                “Not in this state,” she said, “And with the sopor slime you’ll last longer.”

                She got into the trap and straddled him. Her hand stroked his long wet hair.

                                She whispered, “I love you, Equius Zahhak.”

                Then she rode his baloney pony until it spewed blueberry sauce. It was very romantic.

                                                 

**Author's Note:**

> If you hate the cliche of "confession -> consummation", stop reading after the third "eeyup". I just really wanted to put that last line in.
> 
> 12/8/14: I regret all the rape.


End file.
